This post is part of the June 2018 Synchroblog which asks the question “Where does ultimate authority and meaning rest for Christians today?” You will find the links to the other June Synchroblog contributions at the end of this post.

Many people are asking the same question:

Where does ultimate authority and meaning rest for Christians today?

Christianity is rapidly changing and those changes may be connected to a cyclical pattern that history has revealed to us.

Bishop Mark Dyer claimed: “to understand what is currently happening to us as twenty-first century Christians in North America is first to understand that about every five hundred years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale.”

Bishop Dyer went on to say that historically three things happen when the rummage sale takes place:

A new and more vital form of Christianity emerges.

The organized expression of Christianity becomes less ossified.

Christianity breaks free from that which has encrusted it and the faith spreads.

For some context, we can consider that about 500 years ago Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle and the Great Reformation took place. about 500 years before that the Great Schism occurred. And again, about 500 years before the Great Schism a council called in Calcedon determined what was and was not correct doctrine and then, of course, 500 years before that was when the main event took place and Jesus challenged the existing religious institutions to hold their own rummage sale.

At each of these intersections we see the question about authority being asked.

When Jesus comes to Jerusalem and walked into the temple the chief priests and elders came to him and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” The council of Calcedon met to determine “correct doctrine” to serve as religious authority, one of the main causes of the Great Schism were disputes over papal authority, and the Reformation was a widespread theological revolt against the abuses and totalitarian control of the Roman Catholic Church that was seen as the ultimate religious authority at that time.

If Christianity is in the midst of another rummage sale that would explain some of the changes that we are witnessing and why so many followers of Jesus are asking ” where does ultimate authority and meaning rest for Christians today?”

As a Christian I have been trying to answer that question over the last few years and have come to the conclusion that the answer includes elements of scripture, science and community under the guidance of and imbued with the wisdom of the holy spirit.

SCRIPTURE

I spent much of my life in a faith community that embraced scripture as the sole authority but I no longer believe in the idea that the Christian scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith and practice.

I value scripture and believe it contains much truth and wisdom. I believe it is an important element in the life of a Christian but I think there is a danger in perceiving scripture as the sole source of truth rather than an instrument that guides us to live in a way that allows us to discover truth.

“I know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape. Neither I nor anyone else knows how these stories will turn out, since at this point they involve more blood than ink. The whole purpose of the Bible, it seems to me, is to convince people to set the written word down in order to become living words in the world for God’s sake. For me, this willing conversion of ink back to blood is the full substance of faith.

This brings me to the best thing about the Bible, which is the way that it will not let you settle down between its pages. Pay attention to what is written there and it will keep pushing you out into the world—to look for the rainbow, scoop up the manna, wrestle the angel, seek the lost sheep, give your shirt to the stranger. Open your imagination to the divine stories it tells and the world stands a better chance of becoming a sacred place, if only because you are out there acting like it is.

Mary and Joseph lead me to pay more attention to my dreams, John the Baptist reminds me that the savior you hope for is almost never the savior you get, Mary Magdalene shows me how many kinds of love there are—and Jesus? There’s not enough time even to begin. Give to everyone who begs of you, pray for those who persecute you, watch out for the log in your own eye, love your neighbor as yourself. Thanks to him, I cannot even pass someone in the frozen food grocery aisle at the grocery store without seeing a divine messenger.

This is not something you learn in New Testament class—or Bible study either—at least not if you are there to discover the right answers to all your questions. But if you want to know more about the God-haunted seekers who came before you and are willing to take your place among them, then by and by you will decide for yourself what kind of authority the Bible has.”

SCIENCE

It seems to me that human beings have a natural desire for a cognitive narrative to make sense of the world around them. Two of the major premises used by humans to account for our observations and experiences are faith and science. They are often viewed as separate entities but I believe they complement each other. I believe that the integration of science and faith can lead to a more holistic understanding of both. If our goal is to discover truth about ourselves, others and the world we live in, then I believe the unification of faith and science will present new and better questions that lead us to answers that will enhance our knowledge, intensify our beliefs and cause us to live and love better.

Carl Sagan said it well:“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”

COMMUNITY

I have come to believe that the best way to learn is in community with others where it is safe to ask questions, share doubts, challenge traditions and disagree. Those who are wholeheartedly seeking truth in a community where they can do those things will be able to accept a new idea, admit they changed their mind, adopt what they once opposed while at the same time living out their present beliefs with conviction. They will be able to be confident without feeling the necessity to be certain. They will accept the tension of knowing something while holding on to the idea that they may be wrong. I believe that community plays a big role when it comes to authority in the life of a Christian. Without community to challenge us, inspire us, motivate us we can easily become stagnant and set in our own ways hanging on to narrow views and missing revelations. Community gives us the opportunity to be refined when it rubs up against us and a place to gain humility when we recognize we are only a small part of something much bigger. In community we learn to forgive, we discover our own worth and the worth of others, we learn to love, we learn to handle conflict, we learn to accept help and to be helpful. I believe that community is both the catalyst for spiritual growth and the key to restoring faith.

Jesus said,“the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.”

I believe when elements such as scripture, science and community are imbued with and guided by the Holy Spirit we can trust the spirit to give us the ability to know how to live into the way of Jesus and love in the way of Jesus.

This “spiritual authority” is very different than the kind of certainty that many Christians have embraced in recent years because the Holy Spirit is full of mystery and unpredictability.

The concept of spirit is derived from the Hebrew word ruach. It is something that can be felt and not seen and is often translated as breath or wind. We don’t know which way the wind will blow. Ruach is unpredictable and mysterious.

I believe we are in “The Age of the Spirit” however, I think it is important that we not mistake this time as an excuse for mindless thought and action but instead recognize this is a time for deep introspection. This is not a time to carelessly say “God told me” or “the spirit led me” in order to try and give our own ideas more credibility. Instead, we should remain sensitive to the promptings and guidance of the spirit and as a result be a witness to God’s ways by letting our lives and actions reflect what a spirit filled life looks like.

“The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.” A. W. Tozer

However, many are resistant to the idea of the Holy Spirit being the ultimate authority in in the life of Christians. Many believe we need an institution, an educated leader, a book or a creed. I think what scares people the most about the idea of the Holy Spirit being the ultimate authority in the life of Christians is allowing people to depend on themselves.

People might misunderstand what the Holy Spirit is saying to them.

Some may purposely misrepresent the Holy Spirit.

Many are self serving so they may ignore some things the Holy Spirit is revealing to them.

YES! YES! YES!

All of those things will happen … but none the less, I believe that the Holy Spirit is the correct source of authority for Christians today.

Brian McLaren points out:

“Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstraction and propositions, long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself.”

In the end, depending on the Holy Spirit means thinking for ourselves – discerning for ourselves. It’s risky but so are things like unconditional love and grace.

I believe the age of the Spirit has come, will you welcome it?

Phyllis Tickle would be a good source if you want to dive deeper. Here are two of her books I recommend:

I cringe a little every time I say it out loud because I come from a place where I was thoroughly indoctrinated into the idea that there was a place called hell. It was where those who did not believe in God/Jesus would go when they died … but, if you believed in God/Jesus you would go to heaven instead of hell.

No one ever said what would happen to you if you didn’t believe in hell but it was kind of an unspoken assumption that if you didn’t believe in hell you probably weren’t “really” a “real” Christian and that meant you probably didn’t believe in God/Jesus and well … no need to repeat myself … you get the picture.

Once I got the picture I realized right away that I didn’t want to go to hell. It was an easy decision for me … believe in God and get a ticket to heaven … which by the way was the complete opposite of hell – it was a place where everyone was happy – so happy that no one ever shed a tear, and it was pretty too! Duh! – that’s where I wanted to go. So, I believed and I “confessed” that I believed and I got dunked and that was that … I was safe. I had my insurance and hoped everyone would be as smart and nice as me about it so no one would ever have to go to that horrible place called hell.

And what I was taught about hell was truly horrible. It was a place where those who “went” there would endure horrendous pain and suffering forever. The picture I had in my mind was a place where people were actually on fire – burning for eternity! The sounds I imagined coming from that place were even more horrible than the scenes that were conjured up by the hell fire and brimstone sermons I heard. In my imagination the people were in so much pain that hell was filled with constant screams of agony that were louder than the music at a rock concert. Hell was a very scary place and any time I thought about it I was glad that I wasn’t going to go there when I died.

Then several years ago I began to seriously think about what I believed and what I based those beliefs on. That was when I realized that the idea of hell sounded out of place and wrong. It didn’t fit with what I believed about God. So, I began to re-examine what I believed about hell. Right away I discovered that the word hell (Sheol) in the Old Testament has nothing to do with a place of punishment and in the New Testament it (Hades and Gehenna) is used symbolically and masks a ton of metaphor.

It can be difficult for someone like me to see what scripture does and doesn’t say about hell as I had been thoroughly indoctrinated with what I’ve come to think of as “one hell of a lie”. But, a thorough study of scripture combined with a little knowledge and understanding of historical context and original language clearly revealed that scripture was being misrepresented and being made to appear as if it said stuff that it didn’t say.

From there it wasn’t a big leap for me to come to the conclusion that I had bought into a lie and although I might not have all of the answers about the afterlife I certainly couldn’t find sufficient evidence to support the idea of hell.

After more in depth research I have come to believe that hell is the invention of man and surprisingly, most, if not all, of our popular concepts of hell can be found in the writings of Roman Catholic writers like the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, author of Dante’s Inferno and the English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost. But, none of our concepts of hell can be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ!

Since I have stopped believing in hell I have found that I am free to serve God because I love him and his ways – not because I am afraid of what will happen if I don’t. I feel more compelled to love others just for the sake of loving them – not to convince them to believe something. And without hell I don’t find that there is as much need for thinking about who is “in” and who is “out” which can lead to more unity which means we can do more good together.

At the same time not believing in hell has led to other questions which anyone reading this might be asking at this very moment. In an effort to give you some answers and much more food for thought here are three resources that you might find helpful:

One resource that I found especially helpful was the work of Crystal Lewis. She has written an excellent E-book called Quenched – What Everyone (Especially Christians) Should Know About Hell. In the book she covers all the Old and New Testament verses that mention hell, the origins of the idea of underworlds and why people continue to believe in hell. You can download her E-book here

Another good resource I ran across was the story of Bishop Carlton Pearson. He was a super star preacher with a huge, devoted following. He rubbed elbows with the most powerful political and religious leaders in the U.S. He had it all. He was on top of the world. Until one day while watching the evening news he realized that he had bought into one hell of a lie and had been spreading it. He was so convinced that the hell he had preached about was a lie that he risked (and lost) everything to share what he believed to be true.

Here’s a little bit of Bishop Pearson’s story in his own words:

My kids were real small. My daughter, who’s now 16, was an infant in my lap. And I was watching the evening news, about the Hutus and Tutsis returning to Uganda. I was angry with God and very disgruntled – these poor African people were suffering so violently and I was overwhelmed with compassion and grief and guilt and anger.

I thought: “I’m here with this little fat-cheeked baby, and I’m eating my dinner watching the news in my lovely home, Mercedes in the garage, beautiful wife, everything going great.” I looked at children like my daughter, with flies around their eyes. And I assumed they were non-Christians under the judgment of God and going to hell.

You could see the little babies’ bellies distended and swollen, and they were scratching and crying and their mother was sitting there with this blank expression on her face, with her breast deflated, the child pulling at it, no milk. I thought, they’re probably Muslims or into Juju, they’re headed to hell.

I said to God: “How could you allow that? Call yourself a God of love? You let those poor people suffer, then suck ’em right into hell.”

And that’s when I felt I heard God say: “So that’s what you think we’re doing?”

I said: “Well that’s what the Bible says. They’re not Christians. They’re going to hell.”

“Can’t you see they’re already there? That is hell and I’m pulling them out of there, out of that place that you as humans have created for them and yourselves.”

You can find more of Bishop Pearson’s story here or watch “Come Sunday” on Netflix – “Come Sunday is a movie that tells the story of Pearson’s personal journey from leading a religious congregation to being labeled a heretic.

And finally here is an excellent response from Shane Hipps that concentrates on the reality that whatever any of us believe about the afterlife it’s all purely speculative. I particularly like this piece because Hipps concludes by pointing out that perhaps we should be spending less time pondering the afterlife and more time on the here and now – which is something I wholeheartedly agree with!

This post is part of the May Synchroblog, in which numerous bloggers around the world write about the same topic on the same day. Links to the other contributors are below. If you enjoyed my article, you will probably also enjoy reading what the other contributors have to say about the topic of hell.

Bloggers were invited to write about whatever came to mind when they thought about Freedom.

As someone who is passionate about making the world a kinder, safer, more loving place for LGBTQ+ people the subject of Freedom immediately had me thinking about people past and present in the fight for the LGBTQ+ freedom.

Every movement has its heroes, and the push for equality and freedom for the LGBTQ+ community is no exception.

There are too many to list all of them so I’ve picked 12 to share with you today.

In her ninth decade, she started a judicial odyssey, fighting a battle she never expected to wage—let alone win. Now she’s the matriarch of the gay-rights movement. Edie Windsor is the woman whose lawsuit forced the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage. She filed the lawsuit that helped bring down section 3 of DOMA. After the death of her late wife, Thea Spyer, Windsor was faced with the unfairness of a bill for $360,000 in estate taxes. That injustice won’t happen to others because Windsor brought the case United States v. Windsor to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the section was unconstitutional.

Janet Mock is an American writer, transgender rights activist, author and the former staff editor of People magazine’s website.

Mock creates transgender-specific programs and education for the LGBTQ youth center of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which operates the Harvey Milk High School, a high school for LGBT teens in New York City. She was the person who started the Twitter hashtag #GirlsLikeUs to empower transgender women and is the author of Redefining Realness in which she details her journey as a transgender woman.

Cleve Jones is an LGBT rights and AIDS awareness activist who cofounded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in 1983. In 1985 he held a memorial for Harvey Milk where he started the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a community project that honors the lives of people who died of the disease. Today he is an organizer for Unite Here!, a union that represents workers throughout the U.S. and Canada in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, and airport industries.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC comedy Modern Family, started a nonprofit charity with his husband Justin Mikita. The organization goes by the catchy name “Tie The Knot” and sells fashionable neckties and bow ties. The funds raised by “Tie The Knot” go to support marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Here is what Jesse and Justin have to say: “Tie The Knot was founded to combine all of our favorite things: humor, style, individuality, fashion, art, and equality. Founded by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita, the goal of Tie The Knot is clear: to advocate for the civil rights of gay and lesbian Americans throughout the United States & beyond, and to look damn good while doing it.”

For news junkies, Ross Murray is the man to follow. Murray is the Director of News at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). At GLAAD, Ross’ role is to amplify pro-LGBT voices of faith, shape the public conversation about LGBT people and faith, and to respond to anti-LGBT faith-based messages. Ross is also the Director of The Naming Project, a faith based LGBT youth group that runs an LGBT teen camp every summer. In all Ross does, he strives to help people cultivate a holistic identity. Murray’s background is in youth ministry.

Few people who set out to change the world actually succeed, Frank Kameny was one of those few. You most likely have never heard of him. But for gay Americans, he’s a founding father of the historic movement that pulled LGBTQ+ people out of the closet and into greater acceptance in the United States. What made Kameny a hero was that he demanded equity and fairness when it was literally him against the world. He was 86 and lived in Washington.

Kameny was fired from his job with Army Map Services in 1957 for being gay and was denied future job opportunities in the United States Civil Service. After being turned down by lower courts, Kameny filed a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court, arguing that being fired for his sexual orientation was equivalent to being dismissed because of race or gender. Kameny’s petition, the first civil rights claim based on sexual orientation, was denied. In 1971, Kameny became the first openly gay politician to run for Congress and remained an activist for Gay rights for all of his life.

Kameny was known for wearing a “Gay is Good” button back when few gay people had the courage to be out and proud. By his example, perseverance and sacrifice, he showed us what courage looked like. We are a better nation because Franklin Edward Kameny set out to make us so.

American gay rights activist Craig Rodwell founded the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop (the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors, which has spawned many others since), and was the organizer of for the very first Gay Pride Parade. He facilitated a community gathering place with his bookshop and conceived some the first gay rights protests, preceding the Stonewall riots.

In 1992, at age 19, Chad Griffin became the youngest White House staffer ever to serve as press office manager, under President Bill Clinton. In 2008 he founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which helped fight California’s Proposition 8. In March 2012, Griffin became the President of the Human Rights Campaign.

Griffin, who is gay himself, often cites the elevated rate of suicides among LGBT youth as his motivation and has stated that he would especially like to extend his work to advocate for young people in states like Arkansas, where he was born and raised.

Since joining HRC as president in 2012, Griffin has steered the organization into an exciting new era in the fight for equality. From spearheading record-breaking investment in the 2012 elections that enabled unprecedented victories from coast to coast, to historic advocacy around the Supreme Court’s rulings striking down Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act in June of 2013, Griffin has brought renewed passion and energy to a fight that is inspiring Americans—LGBT and straight—all around the country.

A key component in the fight for LGBTQ+ freedom and equality is protecting youth and educating parents of LGBTQ+ kids and that is why I am including Dannielle Owens-Reid and Kristin Russo, the co-founders of Everyone is Gay and The Parents Project.

Everyone Is Gay is an award winning LGBTQ youth organization that provides advice, tours schools, and creates change while keeping everyone laughing and The Parents Project was created as an extension of Everyone Is Gay to answer the many questions they were receiving from parents whose children had recently come out to them.

Dannielle resides in Los Angeles, and has been working with LGBTQ young people for over four years as the co-founder of Everyone Is Gay. She has worked extensively in the world of social media and has used that experience to create a digital presence for LGBTQ+ youth and their parents.

Kristin resides in Brooklyn and has been working with LGBTQ young people for over 6 years, first volunteering at the Hetrick-Martin Institute in NYC, and then co-founding Everyone Is Gay in 2011.

Laverne Cox plays transgender inmate Sophie Burset on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. She was recently featured as the first openly transgender person on the cover of Time magazine.

In her Time interview, Cox said, “We are in a place now where more and more trans people want to come forward and say ‘This is who I am.’ Social media has been a huge part of it and the Internet has been a huge part of it, where we’re able to have a voice in a way that we haven’t been able to before.”

She is particularly interested in focusing on the intersection of race, gender and class as she advocates for the Trans community.

Harvey Milk was our country’s first openly gay elected official. Milk was elected in 1977 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he not only represented the concerns of the city’s LGBT citizens but took up issues like affordable housing and child care. He was tragically shot and killed the year after he took office, but his message of hope and openness lives on to this day.

_______________________________________

I’m sure you are thinking of others who should be mentioned. I’m doing the same thing. I’m thinking I should have added Dan Savage and Terry Miller, who started the It Gets Better Project to tell gay kids across the world that life can change after high school and Zach Wahls, a straight young man who stood up in front of the Iowa Supreme Court and so eloquently spoke for the equal rights of his family led by two mothers. And how could I leave out Captain M. Matthew Phelps, a gay U.S. Marine who, after “don’t ask, don’t tell” was repealed, proudly took a male date to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball or Judy Shepard who through her quiet dignity after the loss of her gay son helped the Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed and founded The Matthew Shepard Foundation.

If you are the mom of an LGBTQ+ kid please join you are invited to join our Facebook support group, Serendipitydodah for Moms. The group is for open minded Christian moms who have LGBTQ kids and want to develop and maintain healthy, loving, authentic relationships with their LGBTQ kids. Please send an email to lizdyer55@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the Facebook support group.